I was intrigued this morning when I logged on to Rhapsody and saw that there was a release of a new Jimi Hendrix CD, which I believe means now he has released more CDs dead than alive or maybe it just seems that way. 
Anyway I put the album Valleys of Neptune on the mp3 player and gave it a listen and thought it was pretty good but on the second listen my opinion rose to pretty awesome. All of the tracks were recorded in a four month period in 1969 after the release of Electric Ladyland and feature Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. These are the last recordings with these sideman who were shortly to be replaced by the Band of Gypsies, i.e. Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. The tracks feature new unreleased versions of “Stone Free”, “Fire” and Red House” and a great cover of an Elmore James’ song “Bleeding Heart” (my favorite on the first listen) and an instrumental version of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”. Other good cuts include “Hear My Train A Comin'” and “Ships Passing Trhough the Night”. Overall it was a great listen definitely a 4.5 and maybe a 5 out of 5 after a few more listens.
Next I listened to Will Kimbrough’s new CD Wings. Kimbrough is a busy sessions guitarist and has worked with lots of people including Todd Snider. He has put out several solid solo CDs and this is one of them. I just listened once and there were several good tracks. But I will have to listen more to be sure of favorites. But my first impression this CD is like a cozy murder mystery just nice and safe, not too good, not to bad in the middle a 2,5!
I ended the day with two favorites Batdorf and Rodney’s Off the Shelf followed by John Batdorf’s recent release Old Man Dreamin’. John Batdorf and Mark Rodney’s albun has been a favorite for 30 plus years. The songs “Me and My Guitar”, “Can’t You Hear Me Calling” and “One Day” are just flat out great in my opinion. The vocals and harmonies are good and the thing that’s all ways stood out to me is the awesome guitar work. Just a great album that makes me feel good a definite 5 out of 5!
In the last couple of years John Batdorf has released two fine CDs Home Again and the most recent release Old Man Dreamin’ . A quote from CD Baby says it all about this CD:
Old Man Dreamin’ A mixture of wanna hug someone-punch and kick someone, cry a little, kiss a little, then just sit down and smile.what an awesome album—really pulls emotions out.
I could go through all of the tracks but my comments would all be a great track. So I’ll just pick two. First the title track “Old Man Dreamin'” an autobiographical track about John’s career and what it’s like to be an old man dreamin’ in a young man’s world, Never give up the dream, John!
And finally “Will I Love You Forever” which I think is a beautiful song, but listen and let me know what you think! All in all like everyday it was a great day in music!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcKYT4_YXCs
